EastEnders' Sue Osman star faced drink and drugs battle before dying in care home aged 70
Having appeared in the very first episode of EastEnders back in 1985, Sandy Ratcliff became a familiar face to viewers at home thanks to her role as Sue Osman. During her time on the soap, Sandy played the wife of Ali Osman and her storyline covered many important topics including infidelity and losing her baby to cot death, which affected the mental health of her character.
After four years on the hit BBC One soap, Sandy left the show in 1989. Following her time in Albert Square, the soap star had a string of other TV roles, such as on ITV’s Maigret as well as the BBC shows A Box of Swan and Men of the Month.
Away from the world of acting, Sandy retrained as a counsellor, and drove ambulances. Sadly the beloved actress died in a care home at the age of 70 in April 2019. At the time of her tragic passing, Nejdet Salih, who played Sandy’s on-screen husband Ali, paid tribute to the star.
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“It’s very sad. I remember the first time I auditioned for the show, we had this instant chemistry and banter. I was a young actor and she helped me develop so much. We had a lot of fun on the show and had some really good storylines,” he said.
“Obviously the cot death storyline was massive and really important. We wanted to do the best job we could. At the end of the show I think she had had enough, there was a lot of pressure on us back then. I think she just wanted to go.”
In October 2019, an inquest heard how the EastEnders actress died after taking an excessive amount of morphine while suffering from two terminal lung conditions. The inquest was also told that she struggled with a heroin addiction for 20 years.
Speaking in 2010 for EastEnders’ 25th anniversary, Sandy candidly told The Sun: “I had a hard time when I left the show. There were stories about my drug addiction, and I was quite an innocent, even in my thirties.
“But I recovered and moved on to other things. If you had asked me last year if I wanted to go back to acting I would have said no. I was working too hard then and I felt tired. Now, I would say yes. If anyone needs someone to play a bag lady, I could do that!”
